Fireworks
Independence Day fireworks episode, 2014-07-04
Daily PM2.5 peaked at 62.3 µg/m³ near Chicago across 2 covered metros home to 11 million people.
Counting the extra PM2.5 above each metro's typical day, this event handed the average affected resident ≈ 2.2 cigarettes. Across everyone living in the affected metros, that is the collective equivalent of ≈ 23 million cigarettes. An awareness illustration of outdoor exposure at 22 µg/m³ per cigarette (Berkeley Earth), counting only the event's ranked days; not a medical dose.
Episode peak
-- cigarettes
The smoke map's scale, replayed over this event: the surface interpolates between covered metros' daily records, framed to the affected region. Hover for a reading, click a metro to pin it to the card. Days a monitor did not report draw nothing.
What happened, in the record
Qualified frozen evidence supports fireworks as the broad cause and supports grouping 2 records into the same time-bounded occurrence. Qualified frozen evidence supports fireworks as the broad cause and supports grouping 2 records into the same time-bounded occurrence.
Sequence: Chicago (Jul 4) → Louisville/Jefferson County (Jul 4)
Affected metros
| Metro | Peak PM2.5 | Cigarettes, whole event | Peak day | All-time standing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI | 62.3 µg/m³ | 2.8 | Jul 4, 2014 | #18 of its top days |
| Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN | 50 µg/m³ | 2.3 | Jul 4, 2014 | #16 of its top days |
"Cigarettes, whole event" totals a metro's ranked event days at 22 µg/m³ per cigarette: what a person outdoors there breathed across the event, as the illustration. "All-time standing" is where this episode's days sit in each metro's ranked record (worst-area measure, since 1999). Full local context is on each metro's Air Records page.
The evidence
Official records
- NOAA Storm Events Dust Storm, ARIZONA, Jul 3, 2014 "Strong thunderstorms developed across southern Pinal county during the afternoon hours on July 3rd, and they generated strong gusty outflow winds in excess of 50 mph. The winds spread to the northwest and picked up massi…" record →
- NOAA Storm Events Dust Storm, ARIZONA, Jul 3, 2014 "Strong thunderstorms developed across southern Pinal county during the afternoon hours on July 3rd, and they generated strong gusty outflow winds in excess of 50 mph. The winds spread to the northwest and picked up massi…" record →
EPA AQS monitor qualifier 3
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier RH — Fireworks. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted request-exclusion qualifier (RH, Fireworks.) on 12 PM2.5 samples in the candidate CBSA on 2014-07-04, identifying fireworks as affecting the samples. A request-exclusion qualifier is an official submitting-agency causal claim, but this endpoint does not establish EPA concurrence.
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier IH — Fireworks. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted informational qualifier (IH, Fireworks.) on 4 PM2.5 samples in the candidate CBSA on 2014-07-04, identifying fireworks as affecting the samples. An informational qualifier is an official submitting-agency flag, not a request for exclusion or an EPA-concurred determination.
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier IH — Fireworks. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted informational qualifier (IH, Fireworks.) on 4 PM2.5 samples in the candidate CBSA on 2014-07-04, identifying fireworks as affecting the samples. An informational qualifier is an official submitting-agency flag, not a request for exclusion or an EPA-concurred determination.
Agency and publisher pages 2
- Health Consultation at KCBX Chicago The government health consultation excludes July 4, 2014 data from site-source analysis because of the clear influence of fireworks on general Chicago air quality, distinguishing it from the investigated site-related emissions.
- Happy Independence Day! Now Let’s Talk About Air Pollution Louisville Air Pollution Control District's spokesperson said the city exceeded particulate standards on July 4, 2014 and described multiple Independence Day fireworks displays and neighborhood fireworks as a cause of particulate spikes.
What remains uncertain
- AQS qualifiers are submitting-agency causal flags and do not by themselves establish EPA concurrence.
- The evidence resolves the broad cause but does not require a named fire, facility, or incident.
Status and provenance
Research preview: this record carries research-only status and its boundaries, cause, and name may change as evidence review completes. Grouping policy common_sense_root_cause_grouping.v2. The cause label reflects the assembled evidence above, not an IAQng detection formula.